Thirteenth Night
by Reverse Mousetrap
Summary: What would the play Twelfth Night be without Viola? A tragedy, that's what.


A/N: This is something I wrote for school, and my friends and I performed it in front of the class. It basically demonstrates Viola's importance in the play by showing what might have happened if she wasn't in the story…

To be taken with a very large grain of salt. (For the record, my class thought it was pretty good; you may have other ideas.)

EXT. - OLIVIA'S GARDEN

ORSINO

My heart is full of hope; I, bearing naught but my undying love and a ring for the lady, wish only to hear my words reflected in those red lips: "I love thee."

The lady comes! Let God guide her to the heart that will be forever true.

(Enter OLIVIA)

OLIVIA

Be brief, fellow; what tidings dost thou bring? The urgency of thy message caused some alarm. Deliver the news, and

ORSINO (down on one knee)

Do not speak, save for one word. I come not to forewarn of danger, nor do I think of political folly. No, lady - I only desire to know if you will accept this ring and become my wife, for my devotion is to no other.

OLIVIA (desperately)

I am thankful for thy offer, Duke, and I know that no man could provide for a lady as thou couldst, but Fate is such that I must not accept.

Thou must return to thy duties; banish all notion of myself from thy wild heart. If thy love be true, thou shalt return in the space of seven years. Until then, I bid thee goodbye.

(OLIVIA walks away. There is a short pause.)

ORSINO (quietly)

Can it be so? Is it that the lady doth not see the extent of my love? Seven years; 'tis an eternity! By the coming of the seventh spring, my heart shall remain only as ash, as if from a great inferno.

INT. - ORSINO'S BEDCHAMBER

ORSINO (sitting up on his bed)

Already the great darkness closes in on my heart. Though I have been scorned, my love for the lady Olivia maintains its iron grip on my entire being, though it becomes more and more overshadowed by a fearsome emptiness...

(He picks up a dagger)

May eternal rest bring peace to my soul! Oh, Olivia! Olivia!

(He stabs himself and dies)

INT. - OLIVIA'S BEDCHAMBER

MARIA

Countess, thou must eat. Death's grip is evident in thy wasted frame, thy blank eyes, thy waxen skin... These times shall pass! Though melancholy drives at thy heart like sharpened steel, persevere!

OLIVIA

Without my family, I am nothing. Beauty carries no meaning any longer; there is no man alive who could lift my spirits and cause me to abandon my grief; I see no point in my existence.

Come, gentle Maria - take up the sword, and run it through my heart. Thou art excused in advance - I shall be sure of it.

(MARIA holds the sword in her hands.)

MARIA (shocked)

I could not perform such an act!

OLIVIA (determined)

Then give me the sword. I leave it to you to inform the house.

MARIA

Madam, do not do this!

OLIVIA

Silence! Thou art the servant, not I. Therefore be gone, and follow the instructions which thou wert given.

(MARIA leaves in tears, muttering under her breath.)

OLIVIA (continued)

Now, by this end may my troubles cease! See the light, how it glints off the blade. May this light pierce my soul and cure me of my melancholy.

(She holds the sword in front of her.)

OLIVIA (continued)

Oh, how I regret that I never loved! True love may have been the remedy to my pain, yet true love have I never known...

Oh world! Mourn not the passing of one more unhappy soul.

(She stabs herself and dies.)

INT. - DOWNSTAIRS, OLIVIA'S HOUSE

SIR TOBY

Ah, the miracle of drink! It doth bring jollity into the heart of this household.

SIR ANDREW

Quite so, and jollity is exactly what the household needs, I do believe.

(They stagger around, laughing drunkenly. MALVOLIO enters.)

MALVOLIO

Cease your drunken foolery! You do not gain from it, nor do I, nor doth any other! It is early morning, and the good people of this house deserve rest, most particularly her ladyship.

SIR TOBY

The puritan, the puritan! Leave us, bringer of storms and destroyer of happiness!

SIR ANDREW

Be silent, the both of you; I do hear a voice.

(They listen. They hear MARIA's strangled voice shouting from upstairs.)

MARIA (voice)

Olivia is dead! Olivia is dead!

(ANDREW and TOBY are too drunk to understand. MALVOLIO, however, is shocked.)

MALVOLIO

It cannot be!

SIR TOBY

Why your sadness, boy? It is of no consequence!

MALVOLIO

Do you not feel loss in the absence of your niece?

SIR ANDREW

Niece? What niece? Sir Toby hath no niece, nor father, nor mother. He was created from the stars, as was I, as were we all!

MALVOLIO

See what a scourge this drink brings upon you! Be ashamed, for you do not even remember your own family!

(TOBY and ANDREW still do not understand. They wander off, shouting and joking drunkenly.)

MALVOLIO

Olivia is dead? Do not say so! Say, rather, that God's Day of Judgment is here, and we shall all be cast into the fiery pits of hell. Say that all the armies of the world are marching towards Illyria with the intent to kill. But do not say that Olivia is dead!

(MALVOLIO collapses to the ground in anguish.)

INT. - DOWNSTAIRS, OLIVIA'S HOUSE

(MALVOLIO awakens. Thunder and rain are audible outside.)

MALVOLIO

Such is life that my one comfort should be snatched away so harshly and suddenly! What have I to live for now, when nothing shall remain in my life but the cruel jests of those who remain? What life is that, I ask you? 'Twere better ended by my own hand.

(He looks around frantically for something to kill himself with. He spies one of TOBY and ANDREW's broken beer bottles.)

MALVOLIO (continued)

May the carrier of such vile drink as did bring a scourge upon this household, now bring rest to my tortured heart.

(He slashes himself wildly with the broken bottle before giving himself a fatal wound in the heart.)

INT. - TAVERN

(TOBY is drinking heavily.)

SIR ANDREW

I have no care to stay; do not entreat me to remain in this country, for there is no reason. Thou shalt not take a penny more from me; goodbye and good riddance!

SIR TOBY

Thou hast always been free to leave, and so I welcome no sight more than your retreating back.

(ANDREW storms out, leaving TOBY at the bar.)

SIR TOBY (continued)

Alas, what now? My money is gone, and I shall be forced from my abode, or give up the life-giving alcohol that runs in my veins. There is no other option - I must find a home less dear, or perish in the cold streets of Illyria at night.

EXT. - STREET

(TOBY is lying on the ground, covered by a newspaper. He shivers.)

SIR TOBY (sadly)

Alone and penniless, reduced to begging on the streets, is this how one should live life? Is it better not to live at all? I know not.

INT. - SMALL ROOM WITH FIREPLACE

(MARIA and FESTE are sitting around a fire, shivering.)

FESTE

Was e'er there a tale of greater woe than this? Surely not, for there has been much suffering in the name of love, and not a soul has escaped unharmed. We have been lucky; we are alive, and living under a roof, however uncomfortable it seems.

MARIA

'Tis a pity that this story had to become a tragedy, is it not? Quite so - I can imagine how different that everything may have been, had the Lady Olivia allowed herself to open up her heart to a man, and love had been given free rein...


End file.
